Society is always quick to assume men are guilty of something , all it takes is an accusation and men are once again forced to prove their innocence instead of the accusers proving guilt. There is a naivety in Western countries which assumes that the courts and police are always right and if a man is accused or charged or served with a D…
Society is always quick to assume men are guilty of something , all it takes is an accusation and men are once again forced to prove their innocence instead of the accusers proving guilt. There is a naivety in Western countries which assumes that the courts and police are always right and if a man is accused or charged or served with a DV order then he MUST have done something wrong and therefore deserves what he gets.
But such a mindset can have fatal consequences , a case from WA shows how self righteousness can go too far. Mr Ly Tong of Beechboro WA. was fatally shot by two police officers in his own home , he was unarmed and had done nothing wrong.
His family was devastated and wanted the police to charge the officer , but they refused and tried to blame Ly for his own death , claiming that he was hostile and of poor character , because there had been a DV order placed on him , in other words “ he deserved to be killed” .
Normally there is an enquiry into deaths at the hands of police, whether the deceased was armed or not.
The enquiries are normally handled by a separate police division, often referred to as "Ethical Standards". There are a few recently that have occurred in WA, many in remote communities.
Hopefully Mr Ly's family have also looked at addressing his death beyond any police-directed investigations.
A major part of the DV processing takes on a bigger emphasis due to constant media pressure that is intent on determining and then judging blame, often ignoring any statistical basis for so doing. This filters through to the police and eventually the courts, and also via a well-funded and government backed support base.
The WA police have shown over many years and many similar cases that they can’t be trusted to conduct their own internal investigations without being openly biased in favour of themselves.
But the Ly Tong case has been a challenge to their usual whitewash and cover ups ,Ly’s family the Tongs ( Ly,being his first name ) would not give up easily and got a coroners inquest against all odds , but this was a set up from the start, the coroner was very easy on the police officers and also seemed to blame Ly for his own death. The Tongs appealed the coroners decision and won a right to appeal to the Supreme Court. The saga continues and now over 18 months later they are still waiting for a date for this hearing . No doubt the police would like it to all go away and are stalling the case as long as possible.
What is certain is that if this case was ever brought before a jury in a properly conducted trial the jury would almost certainly find the police officer guilty , given the known facts of the case .
And that’s the reason why the police never charged the officer , they know that police procedures and training would also be on trial.
It’s the same in most states , police investigating themselves is open to abuse . Other more advanced countries have independent investigations for police misconduct , so why not Australia ? The conference on innocence might be the start of big changes to the whole justice system , not before time.
Society is always quick to assume men are guilty of something , all it takes is an accusation and men are once again forced to prove their innocence instead of the accusers proving guilt. There is a naivety in Western countries which assumes that the courts and police are always right and if a man is accused or charged or served with a DV order then he MUST have done something wrong and therefore deserves what he gets.
But such a mindset can have fatal consequences , a case from WA shows how self righteousness can go too far. Mr Ly Tong of Beechboro WA. was fatally shot by two police officers in his own home , he was unarmed and had done nothing wrong.
His family was devastated and wanted the police to charge the officer , but they refused and tried to blame Ly for his own death , claiming that he was hostile and of poor character , because there had been a DV order placed on him , in other words “ he deserved to be killed” .
Normally there is an enquiry into deaths at the hands of police, whether the deceased was armed or not.
The enquiries are normally handled by a separate police division, often referred to as "Ethical Standards". There are a few recently that have occurred in WA, many in remote communities.
Hopefully Mr Ly's family have also looked at addressing his death beyond any police-directed investigations.
A major part of the DV processing takes on a bigger emphasis due to constant media pressure that is intent on determining and then judging blame, often ignoring any statistical basis for so doing. This filters through to the police and eventually the courts, and also via a well-funded and government backed support base.
The WA police have shown over many years and many similar cases that they can’t be trusted to conduct their own internal investigations without being openly biased in favour of themselves.
But the Ly Tong case has been a challenge to their usual whitewash and cover ups ,Ly’s family the Tongs ( Ly,being his first name ) would not give up easily and got a coroners inquest against all odds , but this was a set up from the start, the coroner was very easy on the police officers and also seemed to blame Ly for his own death. The Tongs appealed the coroners decision and won a right to appeal to the Supreme Court. The saga continues and now over 18 months later they are still waiting for a date for this hearing . No doubt the police would like it to all go away and are stalling the case as long as possible.
What is certain is that if this case was ever brought before a jury in a properly conducted trial the jury would almost certainly find the police officer guilty , given the known facts of the case .
And that’s the reason why the police never charged the officer , they know that police procedures and training would also be on trial.
It’s the same in most states , police investigating themselves is open to abuse . Other more advanced countries have independent investigations for police misconduct , so why not Australia ? The conference on innocence might be the start of big changes to the whole justice system , not before time.